


Painted In Our Hearts

by justkimberley



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: A little bit of Angst if you squint, Cuddling, Fluff, Multi, Multiple Points of View, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 16:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19213072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justkimberley/pseuds/justkimberley
Summary: In a world where everyone gets a soul mark on their thirteenth birthday, this story follows Cyrus, Buffy and Andi as they find their soulmates.





	1. If Only There Was An Exact Science

**Author's Note:**

  * For [you_get_to_exhale_now_cyrus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/you_get_to_exhale_now_cyrus/gifts).



> This is a gift for Theo! I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Ch. 1 Word Count: 2564

            For as long as Cyrus could remember, his parents had beautiful marks painted across their left shoulder blades that looked like pieces of artwork. They were vibrant and colourful, and made up of different pictures and words and numbers. All of his friends’ parents had marks like these too, and they were all just as beautiful. But his friends’ parents’ marks always had names in them, and Cyrus thought that was strange. There were no names in Cyrus’ parents’ marks, at least… there weren’t until after the divorce.

            Cyrus could still vividly remember the day when his mom came home with a name on her shoulder. She was smiling, she seemed happier than she had been in a long time. She was already humming when she walked through the door after work, and she kept humming while she changed out of her work clothes. He could hear her from his room, where he was playing with his dinosaurs. He didn’t know what had happened to make her so happy, not until she reappeared wearing a tank top and headed to the kitchen to make them some supper. As always, Cyrus followed his mom to the kitchen so he could help her, and that’s when he noticed it. His mom’s mark had a name! So, naturally, Cyrus asked her who Todd was, and she, having never told him the name of the guy she was meeting today, looked at him with surprise and asked how he knew Todd. Cyrus just pointed at her shoulder and told her that the name was written in her mark, clear as day.

            Cyrus remembers the gleam that entered his mom’s eyes when she realized what that meant. When she realized that she had finally met her soulmate. Of course, Cyrus didn’t know _why_ his mom was so happy about having some guy’s name written on her shoulder, and he told her as much, so she decided to explain the history of soulmates and soul marks, and how they worked to him while she made dinner. Cyrus listened with wide eyes and rapt attention.

            She explained it like this: every person has a soulmate and at some point, during every person’s thirteenth birthday, their soul mark shows up. Every person’s soul mark is unique, but they do have some things in common. For example: they all show up on your left shoulder blade, they all have the age your soulmate will be when you meet them, and they all eventually get a name.

            No one really knew why it was always the left shoulder blade; some people believed that it was because your heart is closer to that side, other people thought that the left side of the body was the ‘love’ side of the body, but no one really knew for sure. The ‘meeting age’ was probably the most straight forward part of the marks. Every mark appears with a number, usually in roman numerals, that represents the age that your soulmate will be when you met them. Most people have numbers that are thirteen or higher, but some people have numbers less than thirteen. Those people are pretty lucky because they already know their soulmate. Some people’s marks have names the second that they are formed (these are the people that have already met their soulmates), and some people’s marks don’t (these are the people that have not met their soulmates yet). People who haven’t met their soulmate before their mark shows up have a nameless mark until they meet their soulmate and their soulmate introduces themselves.

            Besides the names and ages, everybody’s mark is different. The pictures and words that show up are related to your soulmate’s interests, characteristics, personality traits, and sometimes things related to their identity, but, no matter what, they were always beautiful. After all, how could something that describes someone who is your perfect match, your soulmate, be anything but beautiful?

            Cyrus had thought that the whole thing sounded very romantic and lovely when his mom first told him about it, but over the years he had learned that soulmates weren’t _always_ such a ‘romantic’ thing. Some people’s soulmates were their best friends, some people had multiple soulmates, some people didn’t realize they met their soulmates until it was too late… the whole soulmate thing was a lot messier and more complicated than he had originally thought. He couldn’t really blame himself though, things like that always seemed romantic and simple to eight-year-olds and, if he was being honest with himself, he still found it romantic at the ripe old age of twelve; it just seemed a little bit more terrifying and a whole lot more complex now.

            Now, instead of allowing himself to get swept up in the romance of it all, he got swept up in worrying about whether he would realize that he had met his soulmate before he couldn’t find him again and about what he would do if his soulmate didn’t want him. That was one of Cyrus’ biggest fears, and he had a lot of them, he was terrified that his soulmate wouldn’t want him; he was just Cyrus Goodman, there was nothing special about him, so why _would_ his soulmate want him? Not to mention, there was that pesky, irrational part of his brain that _really_ liked to tell him that he would be the first person in the history of the world to not have a soul mark. Cyrus _really_ didn’t like that part of his brain.

            That part of his brain was being especially active tonight, the night before his thirteenth birthday, but it helped that his friends were around to distract him. Buffy, Andi, and Jonah were all staying over for a sleepover that night so that they could be there for Cyrus when his soul mark appeared. Lots of people liked to have their friends around when their marks were supposed to appear, it was a pretty common thing to invite your friends over on the night before your thirteenth birthday, but not everyone did it.

            Jonah had been the first one in their group of friends to get his mark, but he refused to show it to anyone. He had even taken to swimming in t-shirts to keep it hidden. Cyrus wasn’t really sure why Jonah was doing it, but he figured that Jonah would talk about it when he was ready. Andi, on the other hand, had shown hers to them as soon as she’d gotten it. It was different shades of pink, orange, and purple with some art supplies, a camera, a lesbian flag, and the number fifteen in roman numerals inside of it. Andi’s mark probably had the fewest ‘things’ in it that Cyrus had ever seen at the time, but he also knew that marks gained things and changed as your soulmate grew and changed, so he supposed that maybe all marks started out that sparse. Besides, Andi’s soulmate would be fifteen when she met her so there was probably a lot of time for her to find more interests.

            Despite Jonah keeping his mark to himself, both Andi and Jonah had described what it felt like when their marks showed up to Buffy and Cyrus many times. When their marks started appearing, they both felt a weird tingling sensation traveling up to their shoulders and then the mark slowly risen from the depths of their skin into existence. Cyrus had asked them to tell him so many times, that it felt like they were starting to get annoyed with him, but he couldn’t help it, it was so interesting. Besides, Cyrus’ mom said that she hadn’t felt anything when her mark appeared, so Cyrus wasn’t really sure if he’d know when his mark was coming in or not, and he wanted to be able to at least _imagine_ that he could feel it appearing on his skin if he didn’t get to _actually_ feel it.

            Speaking of Cyrus’ mark and not knowing when it would show up, Andi, Jonah, and Buffy had all agreed to stay up with him until midnight, just in case his mark appeared exactly at the time he turned thirteen (after all, he was born at 12:05 in the morning). It wasn’t like they were going to stay up all night, Cyrus wouldn’t even stay up all night (he needed to sleep), but it would be more fun if his friends were around when his mark started showing up. At least, that’s what he told them. In reality, having them around to distract him from thinking about it too much was the main reason he wanted them to stay awake with him.

            When Cyrus’ alarm suddenly went off, saying that it was officially 12:05, it startled them out of their relaxed state. Andi looked at him from the floor where she had been trying to catch cheese puffs in her mouth and Buffy and Jonah sat up a little bit from the reclined position they had been cuddling in (Cyrus _really_ needed to remember to ask them what was going on, this whole cuddling thing between the two of them had started happening a lot lately).

            “Do you feel anything?” Andi asked after she swallowed the most recently tossed cheese puff.

            Cyrus closed his eyes and tried to see if he could feel anything different happening in his body, but he couldn’t feel any new or weird sensations, “I don’t think so,” he said, watching their faces fall, “But, my mom said that she didn’t feel anything when she got her mark, so maybe it’s showing up without me feeling it,” he said, turning around so that his back was towards them, taking off his sweater and uncovering his tank top, revealing his shoulder to them. “You see anything guys?” he asked.

            “No Cy, sorry. I guess it’s not showing up now. If only there was an exact science to when the marks showed up,” Buffy said conspiratorially. Jonah nodded along with what she was saying, staring at her with a small smile the whole time, Cyrus wasn’t even sure if Jonah had heard what she said.

            “Eh, that’s okay. It’ll show up later.” Cyrus said, trying not to show how disappointed he was that the mark didn’t show up when he thought it was going to, “We’ll just finish watching this movie and then we’ll head to bed, sound good?”

            The others let out affirmative sounds and nodded before returning their attention to the movie. Cyrus turned to look at the movie too, trying to pay attention, but he couldn’t stop his thoughts from spiraling as the minutes passed without his soul mark appearing. He put his sweater back on because it was cold in the basement, but also because he didn’t want to be tempted to just stare at his shoulder the whole night. What if he didn’t have a soulmate? What if he was the one person in the world that didn’t have a soulmate and would never get a soul mark? Cyrus knew that his thoughts were irrational and that they weren’t helpful, but he couldn’t stop himself.

            He shook his head and looked at the TV again, hoping that the movie could distract him from his thoughts, surprised to see there was only about ten minutes left. Despite his attempt to watch the movie, a few minutes after turning back to the movie he was still worrying. As his thoughts spiraled farther and farther from where they should be, he felt a weird tingling sensation spread up his sides. It started on his lower back and then slowly travelled to his left shoulder. Cyrus was tired and his brain felt dead from all the worrying he had been doing, so he didn’t realize what was happening. The tingling continued for about thirty seconds before Cyrus snapped out of his stupor and realized what was going on. “Guys!” he shouted, making his friends jump from their relaxed positions again as he quickly threw off his sweater and turned so that his back would be facing them, “Do you see it? Is it coming?” he asked, trying to turn his head to see his shoulder.

            Andi was the first one to stand up, peering closely at Cyrus’ shoulder, “Yeah! It’s coming in Cy! Go check it out!” She exclaimed and Cyrus ran to the bathroom, thankful that there were two mirrors so he could angle them to see what was happening on his shoulder without straining his neck. It was the most magical feeling, watching the colours swirl up as if they had been hidden inside of his body his entire life and were only now coming to the surface. The first noticeable shape was a basketball, and Cyrus worried for a second that his soulmate might be Buffy (not that he didn’t like Buffy, but he had really hoped for a romantic soulmate, and he could never have romantic feelings for Buffy), but the second thing that showed up was a gay pride flag, and he knew that everything would be fine. The images started showing up faster now, a piano keyboard, music notes, a book, and then finally when it seemed like everything was filled in, the meeting age showed up. Cyrus held his breath as the roman numeral X, for ten, slowly drew itself onto his shoulder, then the I’s, for ones, started showing up until finally the numbers were done and all of the shapes that were going to appear that night had appeared. The final number on Cyrus’ shoulder was XIII for thirteen. That meant (most likely) that he would meet his soulmate this year. Cyrus felt tears of joy spring to his eyes as he took in everything that had happened, and everything that he knew about his soulmate so far, smiling as his friends engulfed him in a group hug.

            They stayed up chatting for a while after the euphoria of the mark had dropped a bit before deciding that they should go to sleep. They all tucked themselves into their sleeping bags, and laid in silence, trying to fall asleep but, every once and a while, one of them would ask a weird question, causing the others to erupt into a fit of giggles. Eventually though, all the talking died off and Cyrus’ friends fell asleep.

            Cyrus, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. At least, not yet. He was too excited about what had happened. He had actually gotten a soulmate! He smiled to himself and decided to recount what he knew about his soulmate so far. He knew that his soulmate was gay, that he liked basketball and reading, that he could probably play the piano and liked music. And that his favourite colours were blue and green (or at least Cyrus assumed they were because that was the colour of the majority of his mark). Cyrus felt like he was walking on air, he had never been happier. If just getting the mark made him this happy, he couldn’t even imagine what meeting his soulmate would feel like. Eventually Cyrus drifted off, thinking about what his soulmate might look like, how they might meet, and whether they went to the same school or not. Little did he know that somewhere else, across the city, another thirteen-year-old boy was drifting off to sleep thinking about the exact same things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this type of soulmate au has been done before (it probably has) but I got the idea for it from this art project I did where we had to "define who we were" with art! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy!


	2. Like Lightning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyrus meets his soulmate.
> 
> Word Count: 2800

            Cyrus still hadn’t met his soulmate a couple of weeks after birthday but, surprisingly, he wasn’t too worried about it. It was kind of hard to focus on his soulmate when he had his bar mitzvah to worry about, and then he was having his bar mitzvah, and then he realized that he really shouldn’t worry about it because it would happen when it happened. He had an entire year to meet his soulmate and his soulmate could also be younger than him. So, for now, he was content just waiting. At least now he knew that he actually had a soulmate. Not to mention, it was kind of hard to focus on his own life now that Buffy’s soul mark would be coming in soon. Her birthday was in in two weeks, and the whole group wanted to be there for it (so, naturally, they were planning a sleepover).

            Cyrus, Andi, Jonah, and Buffy had just finished lunch and were now walking down the hallway, planning out their sleepover for Buffy’s birthday while they headed to class. Jonah was surprisingly _incredibly_ enthusiastic about the whole thing, so he and Buffy were walking in the front while Cyrus and Andi followed behind, adding their own thoughts every once in a while. Jonah was telling Buffy for the fifth time how excited he was for her mark to come in and Cyrus looked at Andi to roll his eyes. Unfortunately, the second that he took his focus off of where he was going, someone ran into him at full speed knocking Cyrus, and whoever ran into him, to the ground.

            “Are you okay?” Andi asked Cyrus, immediately concerned. Cyrus searched his arms and legs to see if anything was broken before he looked at the guy who ran into him. He looked really familiar, but Cyrus couldn’t figure out how he knew him. The guy looked up from where he had been inspecting his own limbs and made eye contact with Cyrus. Cyrus felt a weird tingling sensation take over his body (what was that about?), before Buffy stepped towards the guy and offered him her hand, pulling him up and effectively breaking his eye contact with Cyrus.

            “Jesus, Kippen, watch where you’re going… especially when you’re running!” Buffy said berating him jokingly. The guy smiled guiltily at the ground before looking at Cyrus again.

            “Sorry man, I wasn’t looking where I was going, I hope you’re okay,” Cyrus nodded, unable to speak for some reason (that reason being: this boy was _really_ cute), “I’ll be more careful next time Driscoll, wouldn’t want our team’s star player to be unable to play,” he said, gesturing to himself before he smirked towards Buffy and then ran away before she could say anything in return.

            “Ugh, that damn Kippen. He’s a good player, and he’s a good teammate, but he really _does_ like to push my buttons,” she said, shaking her head before continuing down the hall. Cyrus felt his eyes widen in realization, ‘Kippen’ was on the basketball team with Buffy, that was how Cyrus knew him. It still didn’t explain the weird feeling that had spread through his body when they made eye contact though.

* * *

 

            After school, Cyrus, Andi, Jonah, and Buffy were once again talking about Buffy’s soul mark party. They sat at a picnic table that was just outside of the school’s front doors, running through the details of the sleepover when, somehow, the subject changed.

            “What would happen if you met your soulmate and they didn’t want to be with you?” Jonah asked suddenly out of the blue, looking gloomy for the first time in months (okay, maybe not months, but it had been a while since Cyrus had seen Jonah look so upset).

            “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t they want to be with you? Wait… did you already meet your soulmate? Did they not want to be with you?” Andi asked, mouth open in shock.

            “No, I… I haven’t met mine yet, but like figuratively, say they didn’t want you. What would happen?” Jonah asked. Cyrus could see the worry in Jonah’s face, and he wanted to be helpful and make Jonah feel better. _Obviously_ Jonah’s soulmate would want him when they met, he was Jonah Beck! But, instead of being able to help Jonah feel better, all Cyrus could think of was what if _his_ soulmate didn’t want him. And _then_ Cyrus started spiraling down the Path of Unwanted Thoughts, as he did every so often, for the first time since he had gotten his soul mark. He felt like he was slowly, but surely, getting swallowed up by his worries. He needed space. He needed to think. He needed to be away from this conversation topic. He needed to _get away_.

            “I just remembered that I need to go help my step-mom with supper. Sorry guys, I’ll talk to you later, bye!” he said quickly, practically jumping up from the picnic table after he got the words out. He could already feel sweat pooling on his forehead. He vaguely heard the sound of his friends saying goodbye to him and then he speed-walked away from the table, making sure he was out of sight before he broke into a run. He needed to go somewhere to calm down, fast.

            Cyrus wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, but he soon realized that he was running to the playground to calm himself down (just like he had been doing every time things got too overwhelming over the past couple months). Out of breath, and still feeling sweaty, he reached the playground and headed to the swings, immediately getting on and pumping his legs to start swinging. The calming effect of moving back and forth immediately made Cyrus feel better. Suddenly his worries didn’t feel like they were going to bury him alive, and he took some time to figure out why he had been so worried in the first place. He wasn’t really sure what had caused him to get so overwhelmed, maybe it was how bright the sun was, the questions that Jonah was asking, all of the different emotions that his friends were feeling, or all of that combined with the fact that he hadn’t slept very well the night before. All he knew was that he needed to get away.

            Cyrus started absentmindedly singing the song that he had made up when he was eight to calm himself down while he pumped his legs, “Legs go up, legs go down, that’s how we make the swing go round,” Cyrus sang, starting to feel a little calmer. The panicky feeling that was filling his body was now being replaced with a different feeling, like static electricity. Cyrus didn’t know if that was better, but at least it was different. He felt like his hair was all standing on end and, if the skies hadn’t been positively blue and free of all clouds, he would have run to take cover for fear of a lighting strike. As it stood though, Cyrus just kept singing his song, “Drag your feet, you go slow, the more you drag the less you go,” the weird electricity kept building on Cyrus’ skin, but he knew there was no chance of lightning today, so he kept singing, “Legs go up, legs go –”

            “Nice song, what do you sing when you’re on the slide?” a voice beside him asked curiously.

            Cyrus quickly turned his head to see who it was, seeing the green eyes and dark blonde hair of the ‘Kippen’ guy he bumped into in the hallway earlier that week. Cyrus wasn’t sure if the guy was making fun of him or if he was just trying to make conversation, but before Cyrus could decide what the nature of Kippen’s words were, his brain decided that he could not make decisions for himself and his mouth opened without permission, “We go down, we say yay, we don’t climb up, that’s the wrong way,” fell hesitantly out of Cyrus’ mouth before he could stop it. His hands immediately flew to cover his mouth while his eyes widened in embarrassment. That was _not_ supposed to come out.

            Kippen smiled, “I did not expect you to have a song for that,” he said, grin still present on his face. Once again, Cyrus was struck by just how attractive this guy was. “I ran into you in the hallway earlier this week, didn’t I? You’re Buffy’s friend?” he asked, looking inquisitively at Cyrus.  Cyrus nodded wordlessly in response; his mouth still wasn’t working with his brain for some reason. Stupid attraction to pretty boys. “I’m sorry about that by the way, are you doing okay?”

            Cyrus finally gained control of his mouth, “Yup,” he squeaked out, he could feel his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Why did his voice have to crack at that moment? Cyrus cleared his throat, hoping that these next words would come out without any embarrassing sounds, “I’m fine. You play basketball with Buffy, right?” he asked, his voice thankfully sounding normal again.

            Kippen nodded, “Yup, number thirty-four, also known as TJ,” he said, smiling at Cyrus.

            The weird electric-y feeling changed. While before it had been taking up his entire body, now it was all moving to focus in on his left shoulder. That was weird. “I’m Cyrus,”

            Cyrus saw TJ twitch involuntarily and then rub his hand over his left shoulder, “Well Cyrus, it’s nice to meet you. Is it alright if I join you on the swings?”

            Cyrus smiled, he liked hearing TJ say his name, “Go for it,” TJ smiled at him before walking behind him to get on the swing.

            They stayed like that, swinging and talking for a while, until TJ started pumping his legs harder, swinging higher and higher. Cyrus watched in awe as TJ effortlessly jumped off the swing. “How did you _do_ that?” he asked, eyes wide.

            TJ tilted his head to the side, “Jump off? I don’t know you just go for it,”

            “No, I mean how can you swing so high without getting scared?” Cyrus asked in awe before, once again, slapping his hands over his mouth. That was not something that he wanted to share with a guy he just met. Especially one who seemed as brave as TJ… it was embarrassing.

            TJ just smiled at Cyrus and moved to stand behind him, “You just have to get comfortable with being high first,” he said, “I’m going to push you, okay?”

            “Okay…” Cyrus said hesitantly.

            The second the word left Cyrus’ mouth, TJ placed his hands onto Cyrus’ lower back and started pushing him. Cyrus was immediately thrown into a sense of déjà vu as a familiar tingling sensation spread up from his lower back before focusing onto his left shoulder. Cyrus was so focused on the weird sensation that he didn’t even notice that TJ had stopped pushing him immediately after the first push. They both stayed where they were, frozen in silence as they realized how they already knew the tingling feeling they had just experienced. Cyrus stayed, sat on the swing in his shocked state until he heard the sound of the rocks moving as TJ ran to stand in front of Cyrus, pulling his shirt off as he went. “Please tell me this has a name on it now?” TJ asked facing away from Cyrus, showing him his back.

            Cyrus stood up and moved closer to TJ, unable to stop himself from reaching out to trace his fingers over the shapes that made up TJ’s mark, until clear as day he saw his own name, written in his own handwriting, right at the bottom of TJ’s mark. Cyrus felt a smile grow on his face and TJ turned around, looking nervous. Cyrus realized that he had been silent for way too long, “Yes, it says my name,” he said quietly, smiling and nodding, feeling happy tears pull from the corner of his eyes.

            TJ looked at Cyrus, searching his face to make sure he was telling the truth before he wrapped Cyrus up in a hug, burying his face in Cyrus’ shoulder, “I can’t believe you found me,” he whispered quietly.

            Cyrus smiled and tucked his face into TJ’s chest, “Actually, I think you found me,” Cyrus said, making TJ chuckle.

            TJ pulled back from the hug, staring at Cyrus’ face, as if he was taking every detail, before he opened his mouth again, “Can _I_ see _your_ mark now?” he asked excitedly.

            Cyrus blushed and grew nervous. He was not comfortable taking his shirt off in the middle of the playground, even if it was only his soulmate there. “How about we go to my house… I’ll change into a tank top so you can see it there?” he asked.

            TJ looked like he was about to protest but then he closed his mouth and nodded, “Okay, let’s go!” he said, grabbing Cyrus’ hand and rushing towards the park exit.

            Cyrus felt his face heat up at the feeling of TJ’s hand holding his and giggled, “TJ, wait… you don’t know where I live!”

            TJ stopped abruptly and then looked down at his feet sheepishly, “Oops, sorry. I just got excited,” he mumbled.

            Cyrus smiled at him and lifted TJ’s chin so that he wasn’t looking at the ground. Cyrus was enchanted by how beautiful TJ’s eyes were when he looked at them this closely, “It’s okay, I’m excited too… and I want to get a closer look at your mark too.” TJ’s face turned bright red with a blush.

* * *

 

            “TJ, that tickles!” Cyrus giggled out as TJ lightly traced his fingers over Cyrus’ soul mark.

            “Sorry Cy, I just… it’s so pretty, I can’t help but touch it. I can’t believe that something as beautiful as this represents me,” TJ said, removing his fingers from Cyrus’ shoulder.

            Cyrus immediately felt the loss of TJ’s touch, “I didn’t say you had to stop touching it… just, I don’t know, don’t do it so lightly,” Cyrus said shrugging. TJ’s hand almost immediately made its way back to Cyrus’ shoulder and Cyrus almost let out a sigh of relief.

            TJ traced the lines of his name once again, not as lightly this time, before he leaned closer and hugged Cyrus from behind, “I can’t believe that we found each other already, how lucky is that?” TJ asked, burying his face in Cyrus’ shoulder.

            Cyrus grabbed TJ’s hands, holding them tightly, “I’d say it’s pretty lucky, but then again, it _is_ what fate intended,” he said, giggling a little, “I want to see your mark again now, I didn’t get to look at it that closely when we were in the park!”

            TJ blushed and then turned around, lifting the back of his shirt as he did so. Cyrus immediately reached forward to touch the mark. The first thing he noticed was the rainbow. He smiled knowing that his and TJ’s marks matched in that regard. Then he kept looking. He saw an old projector (for filmmaking he supposed), a friendship bracelet (that looked exactly like the one Andi made for him, Buffy, Jonah, and herself), a dinosaur, the word loyalty written in his own handwriting, and of course the number thirteen in roman numerals. After he had traced over all of those images with his eyes (and his finger) he finally reached his name. There it was, Cyrus, written in his own loopy handwriting. Cyrus traced over his name, and he felt TJ lean back into his touch. Cyrus smiled and wrapped his arms around TJ from behind, pulling him into a hug. TJ leaned into it and then pulled away, pushing his shirt back down and turning to face Cyrus. “I know that we just met and stuff but, seeing as we’re soulmates,” TJ blushed as he said soulmates and Cyrus felt his cheeks heat up too, “Do you want to go on a date so we can get to know each other better?” TJ asked hopefully.

            “I would love to,” Cyrus said, grinning at TJ before launching himself forward to hug TJ again. Cyrus moved with so much force that TJ fell back against the couch and Cyrus was now laying on him. They glanced at each other and blushed, breaking into giggles as they realized just how happy they were to have found each other. Cyrus buried his face in TJ’s chest and TJ wrapped his arms around Cyrus in response while chuckling lightly. Cyrus smiled to himself as TJ pulled him in closer, they could deal with the details of the date later, for now, Cyrus just wanted to revel in the fact that they had found each other and be held in the arms of his soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was going to have Cyrus run from a basketball game, but then I couldn't figure out how to get TJ there, so I changed it up!


	3. Are You Ashamed Of Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy gets her soul mark.
> 
> Word Count: 3476

            Buffy stared at her shoulder in the mirror while she waited for her friends to arrive. She was trying to preserve what her shoulder looked like in her memory before her mark showed up, and she was trying to imagine what her shoulder would look like with a mark. Andi, Cyrus, and Jonah would all be here soon, after all, they had been planning this sleepover for almost a month. She couldn’t believe that tomorrow would be her birthday, it had come so fast!

            She was also in the bathroom, staring at her shoulder, because she nervous. Within the past few months, she and Jonah had gotten really close and, she could admit (only secretly to herself), she really liked him… and it seemed like he liked her too. But… the thing was, Jonah had his mark already. _And_ he refused to show it to anybody, which _had_ to mean that Buffy wasn’t his soulmate. Buffy had known this all along, and she had tried to stop herself from falling for Jonah, but feelings, even for the great Buffy Driscoll, have a pesky habit of acting on their own accord. So, here Buffy was, liking a boy that could never like her back on the night before she got her soul mark. She knew, technically, that whoever her soulmate was would be the perfect person for her, and she tried to remind herself of that to stop herself from getting too upset about it, but she couldn’t help the pang of sadness that rose in her chest every time she thought about who her soulmate might be.

            She was still looking at her shoulder in the mirror when the doorbell rang. Finally! People were here! She ran down the staircase and threw open the door, not even looking to see who it was before she greeted them, “Hello!” she said, finally looking out and seeing Jonah smiling at her. The pang of sadness passed quickly through her once again at the sight of his bright smile.

            “Happy birthday Buffy!” Jonah said, entering through the doorway and then pulling Buffy into a hug. Buffy automatically wrapped her arms around him in response and buried her face in his neck, breathing in his scent. He somehow managed to always smell good, like pine trees. They stood there holding each other for what felt like no time at all, Buffy had always felt comfortable with Jonah, but it must have been quite a while because soon their hug was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat

            Buffy blushed, and then immediately let go of Jonah, looking at the door to see both Andi and Cyrus standing in the doorway with matching grins on their faces. Buffy immediately gave them a look that said, ‘don’t you dare say anything’ and they just kept smiling and walked in, carrying birthday presents in with them, before following Buffy and Jonah to the basement.

* * *

 

            Midnight was nearing and the crew had already had pizza, opened gifts, and eaten cake, and now they were all just lounging about, in a manner very similar to the way they had at Cyrus’ birthday party. Cyrus and Andi were sitting on the floor, attempting to catch cheese puffs in their mouths, Cyrus pausing to text TJ every once in a while (those two had become inseparable since they found out they were soulmates), and Buffy and Jonah were cuddling on the couch. Buffy loved cuddling with Jonah. She liked cuddling with Andi and Cyrus too but, for some reason, cuddling with Jonah felt so much better. She liked sitting between his legs, her back to his chest so that they could both watch the movie. She liked having his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. She liked that she could hold his hands when his arms were around her. And most importantly she liked how safe she felt whenever they sat like this. It wasn’t that Buffy thought she needed Jonah to protect her, the both knew that if anything she would protect him, but it just felt safe. Like she was understood, like he knew her for who she was, and accepted it.

            When the clock upstairs chimed midnight, she felt her heartrate speed up. It was coming soon. Her mark would show up within the next twenty-four hours. She felt Jonah’s arms squeeze a little tighter around her and heard his breathing speed up. Why did Jonah’s breathing speed up? Buffy turned her head to look at Jonah so that she could figure out what he was thinking. His lips were set in a hard line and his eyes were wide and, even though it looked like he was watching the movie, she knew that he wasn’t. Cyrus and Andi paused their cheese puff game and looked at Buffy.

            “Feel anything?” Cyrus asked.

            Buffy shrugged, “No, not yet,”

            “Do you want to see if it’s showing up without any sensations?” Andi asked, standing up and moving closer.

            Buffy shrugged, “Sure,” she said, sitting forward, exposing her shoulder to Jonah, “See anything?”

            Jonah was silent, Buffy could tell he was searching her shoulder, “No, I don’t see anything yet,” he said finally.

            Buffy laid back down, relaxing into Jonah. “Eh, it’ll come when it comes,” she said, shrugging, “We’ll just finish the movie and then go to sleep,”

            Andi and Cyrus murmured in agreement, and Buffy could feel Jonah nodding behind her, so she turned her attention back to the movie. There was only a half hour left, but Buffy secretly hoped that her mark would appear before the movie ended, just like Cyrus’ had. She didn’t say it out loud though, she didn’t want to jinx it.

            As it would turn out, her mark didn’t show up before the movie ended, and it didn’t show up while they were getting ready for bed. She was disappointed, but she wasn’t too worried about it, she knew her mark would come eventually. And, the more time she had before her mark came, the more time she had to convince herself it wouldn’t be Jonah so that she wouldn’t let herself down. She kept these thoughts to herself while they talked until they fell asleep.

* * *

 

            Buffy woke up in the dark with Jonah’s arm wrapped protectively around her. She had somehow found herself with her head on his chest as well, but that wasn’t what woke her up. What woke her up was the intense tingling sensation that was pulsing through her entire body. It almost felt like she was being burned, and she immediately realized that she was probably getting her soul mark. She quickly sat up and sprinted over her friends to the bathroom, not worrying about waking them up as she threw open the door and turned on the light. Buffy heard a groan from where her friends were sleeping as she turned around to watch her mark appear.

            The first thing that showed up was a guitar. The guitar was drawn artistically, in a way Buffy could never dream of doing herself. The next thing that showed up was a circle of some sort, with a star pattern on it. Buffy wasn’t really sure what it was. Part of her thought it reminded her of Captain America’s shield but, another part of her, thought that it looked like something she had seen in real life. She just couldn’t place what it was. The next symbol that showed up looked kind of like a brain, but it had all sorts of colours swirling in it and exploding from it. It was another thing that she couldn’t place. Next a bracelet showed up, it looked a lot like the friendship bracelets that Andi had made for their group of friends. Then the colours of the bisexual pride flag rose near the bottom. It almost looked like the flag was waving. Soon, music notes started to fill in some of the empty spaces, and she knew that the mark was coming to an end. Finally, a V appeared, five in roman numerals, and her soulmate meeting age was showing up. Buffy watched excitedly as the I’s, for one, followed after. The final number being VII, seven. Wait, seven? Buffy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she realized that if her number was seven, she must have already met her soulmate, unless her soulmate was more than six years younger than her, and she really didn’t want that. She was still trying to figure out what was going on when she saw that her mark was not done showing up. A black line had appeared, it seemed to be writing something in cursive. It was hard to read cursive that was mirrored, but she tried her best. When the whole word was written out, she felt her jaw drop. It was Jonah.

            No, Buffy must be reading it wrong in the mirror. If it was Jonah, he would have told her months ago when he got his mark. Wouldn’t he? Buffy looked in the mirror again, trying to see if she had figured it out wrong but, no matter how many times she read it, it always said Jonah. Buffy thought back to when she and Jonah had first met. They had been seven. Jonah did like music, and he liked to play the guitar. Buffy looked closer at the circle and realized that it was an exact depiction of the frisbee that Jonah had scored his first point in Ultimate with (she knew that because it was framed on his wall). She looked closer at the brain and realized why it seemed so familiar to her. It was exactly how Jonah had described his anxiety to her: like there were too many thoughts going on and sometimes they got out of control and would take over. Buffy looked at the bracelet again and her eyes widened in surprise. It was exactly the same as the bracelets that Andi had made them, how had she not seen it before? The final symbol was the bisexual pride flag. Buffy had to stifle a little giggle at that one. Jonah had never outright told them, but if the way he talked about actors was anything to go by? Jonah was _very_ bi. High School Musical with the group was always an experience because they all had a crush on Troy Bolton and most of them had crushes on Gabriella (Cyrus being the only exception).

            It all made sense. Jonah was Buffy’s soulmate. No wonder she felt so comfortable with him. But why hadn’t he told her when he got his mark? Now Buffy was starting to worry. Jonah had refused to show any of them his mark when he got it. He had also covered it up ever since. Was he ashamed to have her as a soulmate? Buffy felt her throat close up and tears start welling up in her eyes. Jonah had been the one that asked about ‘what if your soulmate doesn’t want you’ did he not want Buffy? She hated that she was being so insecure, but this was her soulmate, he was supposed to care about her no matter what. Suddenly she didn’t want to be able to see the mark anymore. Buffy sat down abruptly on the floor and pushed herself backwards until her back was against the wall as tears began to fall from her eyes, bringing her hand up to her mouth to stifle the sound of her crying. She didn’t want to wake her friends up.

            Buffy didn’t know how long she sat there crying before she heard footsteps approaching the bathroom. She _had_ left the door open and the lights on, so it was kind of inevitable. There was no way to hide from this. “Buffy?” asked a quiet voice. Part of her wanted to believe that it was Cyrus, but she knew the sound of Jonah’s voice far too well to believe that thought, “What’s… what’s wrong?” Jonah asked concerned, taking a step towards her.

            Buffy swallowed before lifting her head to look at Jonah. She saw shock and worry in his face, “Why don’t you want me to be your soulmate?” she whispered out, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer.

            Jonah immediately moved forward and crouched in front of her, grabbing her hands, “What do you mean?” he asked, concerned.

            “You didn’t tell me we were soulmates; you hid your mark from us for months. Are you ashamed to have me as your soulmate?” she asked, tears streaming freely down her face no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

            Jonah lifted his hand to her face, tucked a strand of hair behind he ear, then he wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb, “No! Buffy, that’s not at all what happened! I couldn’t be happier that you’re my soulmate! I just, I just didn’t want to take away from your moment you know? Part of the fun is finding out who it is! But… I can see that I ended up hurting you by accident instead,” he said, looking down at his lap and then pulling her into a hug, “I could never be ashamed to be your soulmate,” he whispered by her ear.

            Buffy felt herself smile, “Really?” she asked quietly.

            “How could I? You’re so strong and beautiful and you could easily kick my butt in a fight. And you’re so confident and kind and caring and you’re fiercely loyal… Buffy, I love everything about you,” Jonah finished, still holding her tightly to him.

            Buffy felt herself smile wider as a blush worked its way across her face. She pulled back from the hug, her tears having since stopped flowing, “You love me, do you?” she asked teasingly, smirking as she watched Jonah’s face turn red.

            “I mean, we are soulmates, it’s kind of to be expected, isn’t it?” he stumbled out.

            Buffy shrugged before pulling him back into the hug, “I love you too,” she said teasingly, but in a way that Jonah would know she still meant it. “I’m so glad that we’ve already found each other,” she said quietly.

            Jonah pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her head, “Me too,”

            They stayed like that, just holding each other for a little while, enjoying each others presence, until the position got uncomfortable, “Shall we go back to our sleeping bags? My legs are starting to fall asleep,” Buffy said, shifting around.

            “Yeah, let’s go,” Jonah said, standing up and then reaching his hand out to pull up Buffy. They tip-toed back to the sleeping bags as quietly as the could before slipping back into their own, surprisingly without waking Andi or Cyrus up.

            “Buffy?” Jonah asked quietly once they had settled in.

            “Hmm?”

            “Will… will you come cuddle with me?” Jonah asked, Buffy felt her cheeks heat up, and she was sure that Jonah’s would be bright red too, if she could see them.

            “Sure,” she replied smiling, rolling over to put her head on Jonah’s chest. Jonah wrapped his arm around her shoulders as soon as she got there and pulled her close to him. She nuzzled closer into his chest. _This_ was exactly what she wanted, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 

            “Oh… my… god.” Was the first thing Buffy heard when she woke up the next morning, followed by the sound of two voices squealing. She buried her face deeper in her pillow, only to realize that her pillow was not a pillow but was, in fact, a living person. Jonah, to be specific. Buffy sat up quickly and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on when it all came back to her. Jonah was her soulmate. She smiled remembering the events of last night and then turned around to silence Cyrus and Andi’s squeals.

            “Shh, guys. Jonah’s still sleeping. Don’t wake him up!” she whispered harshly.

            They immediately quieted themselves. “So, you’re soulmates! That’s so exciting! Did he show you his mark?” Andi asked, full of way too much energy for this early in the morning (ok, maybe it wasn’t _that_ early, but still).

            Buffy scrunched her eyebrows together. She actually hadn’t seen Jonah’s mark yet. And he hadn’t seen hers! “We umm, we actually haven’t shown each other our marks yet,” Buffy said, watching as Cyrus and Andi’s mouths dropped, eyes bugging out.

            “Seriously? That was like the first thing that TJ and I did!” Cyrus exclaimed.

            Jonah groaned from beside her, “Shh! I don’t know, it just slipped our minds. I was too worried about if he wanted me as a soulmate or not,”

            “Why wouldn’t he want you as a soulmate?” Cyrus asked, eyes suddenly full of a fiery light. Buffy could see the same fire in Andi’s eyes.

            “He _did_ want to be my soulmate, I just thought he didn’t because he wouldn’t show us his mark, but he just did that because he wanted me to get to experience the surprise. Isn’t that adorable?” Buffy asked smiling up at her friends. Jonah was still making unhappy sounds in his sleep and shifting around in his sleeping bag. It was like he was looking for something.

            “Aww, that is really cute,” Andi said, smiling.

            Jonah let out a loud harrumph and then grabbed Buffy, pulling her down to be closer to him.

            Cyrus and Andi stifled their giggles at Buffy’s shocked expression when Jonah started mumbling grumpily, “Well, we’ll leave you two to talk about it. If we forgot anything just bring it to school,” Cyrus said, grabbing Andi’s hand and pulling her towards the stairs.

            “Bye guys!” Andi called over he shoulder as they disappeared.

            Jonah pulled Buffy closer to him once again, and nuzzled his face in her neck, “Good morning,” he said, she could practically hear his smile.

            “Good morning,” she replied, grinning and turning around so that she could see him. She smiled wider when she saw his face. He looked so content and cute. Tired eyes squinting at her with a wide smile on his face.

            Suddenly Jonah sat up, very awake, “Wait! I haven’t seen your mark yet!”

            “I haven’t seen yours either! And you got yours first, so I’ve been waiting the longest. I get to see yours first,”

            Jonah opened his mouth to argue but then thought better of it, shaking his head and smiling as he turned around, lifting his shirt off his back. The second that his mark came into view, Buffy ran her finger across her name. ‘Buffy’ was written there, clear as day, in her own handwriting. Of course, there was also a basketball, and a friendship bracelet, matching the one she wore every day on her wrist, and VII for when they met. It was so beautiful. Buffy wasn’t sure how long she sat there looking at the mark, but eventually Jonah started fidgeting where he was sitting.

            “Ok, can I look yours now? Please?” he asked, turning his head and looking at her over his shoulder with puppy-dog eyes. She could never say no to those eyes.

            “Ok, fine…” she said in mock exasperation before smiling and turning around, showing her shoulder to Jonah.

            She heard him gasp and then she felt him carefully place his hand on her mark, “This is… this is so beautiful!” he said, running his fingers over the different shapes, “I just, it’s me! I never thought that I’d see something that was so obviously me in my life!” Buffy felt Jonah trace over where she knew his name was, before he reached forward hugging her from behind.

            Buffy leaned back into him, “I’m so happy that it’s you,” she said quietly.

            “I’m so happy that it’s you too,” Jonah replied, “Now we just need Andi to meet her soulmate and then we will all be complete!” Jonah said in a goofy TV narrator voice.

            Buffy giggled at his antics and then pushed herself backwards so that she was laying on top of him, “But first we have to see if the Jonah Beck can escape from his girlfriend’s trap!” Buffy said, imitating the voice Jonah had used.

            “Wait, girlfriend?” Jonah asked, stilling his movements of escape.

            Buffy sat up and looked at him uncertainly, “Well… yeah. I thought that would be our logical next step. Unless you don’t want to then uhh, I don’t know I guess I read the situation wrong,”

            Jonah broke out into a grin, and tackled Buffy to the ground before smiling above her, “Girlfriend is exactly what I want you to be to me,” Buffy smiled at him and then wrestled him back, trying to win, but they were quite evenly matched. It was nice to know that they would always be this; Jonah and Buffy, Buffy and Jonah, and that would never have to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time that I have written a fanfic in the pov of anyone other than Cyrus or TJ and it was kind of weird to switch headspaces like that, but I really enjoyed the challenge!


	4. Sparkling In The Party Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andi is starting to feel left out because all her friends have their soulmates already, that is, until she meets someone at TJ's birthday party.
> 
> Word Count: 1918

            A few months had passed since Buffy got her soul mark, and Andi was starting to feel a little left out. Now Cyrus had TJ and Buffy had Jonah and Andi, well… Andi had no one. She knew that she wouldn’t meet her soulmate until she was older, after all her meeting age was fifteen, but it still kind of sucked being the only one in the group without a soulmate.

            It had been so long since she got her soul mark that they were almost at Jonah’s birthday again. But, before Jonah’s birthday was TJ’s birthday. TJ had actually become very close with their group over the past few months (because of how much time he spent with Cyrus), and they all got along pretty well. TJ and Buffy were competitive with each other, TJ and Jonah talked about music a lot, and well… TJ and Cyrus talked about everything together. TJ and Andi were also pretty close, it turned out that TJ liked crafting almost as much as Andi did. He said something about how he and his sister used to craft a lot when they were younger, but they didn’t really have time anymore, and crafting with Andi reminded him of those days.

            Although TJ spent most of his time with the group, he was still a pretty popular kid, so there was no question that his birthday party was going to be kind of big. Andi had known that going in, and her family knew that too, but still, walking up to the Kippen house with Buffy, Jonah, and Cyrus, music blasting and teens hanging out in every area was a little overwhelming. Cyrus was the first one to the door, he knocked and then let himself in, the others following closely behind him. The moment that Cyrus entered, Andi heard TJ’s voice rise above the other noise.

            “Cyrus! You guys! You’re finally here!” TJ yelled running to the door from where he had been in the kitchen. Andi spied some delicious looking snacks in there from the front door that she would definitely be checking out later.

            “Happy Birthday TJ!” Cyrus said, pulling TJ into a hug and then kissing him on the cheek. Andi smiled to herself as she watched TJ’s cheeks heat up. TJ and Cyrus were so cute together.

            “Yeah, happy birthday man!” Jonah said, stepping forward and clapping TJ on the back, “This party looks huge, where are your parents?”

            “They’re in the backyard,” TJ said shrugging, before he moved out of Cyrus grasp so he could do his handshake with Buffy.

            “Happy birthday, Basketball Boy,” Buffy said, completing their intricate handshake.

            “Happy Birthday TJ!” Andi said, stepping forward to give TJ a quick hug.

            “Thanks guys, I’m so happy you could all come. It means a lot to me,” he said, smiling at the group and then returning to his spot beside Cyrus, wrapping his arm around Cyrus’ shoulders (those two really couldn’t keep their hands to themselves), “Well, the backyard has pop-pong, there’s movies playing in the basement, the kitchens got snacks, the upstairs is off limits, there’s a photo-booth-esc thing that my sister helped me set up where you can make your own props in the living room… oh and there’s a fire in the fire pit in the backyard,” TJ said grinning at everyone, “Go forth and party!” he said before pulling Cyrus with him to make his rounds around the party again.

            Buffy and Jonah looked at each other excitedly and headed straight to the backyard, probably to decimate whoever was unlucky enough to play pop-pong with them, and Andi was left alone, once again. She sighed to herself before heading to the kitchen to grab some of those snacks she had seen earlier. There were lots of people she knew from school here, so it wouldn’t be that hard to find someone to hang out with, but part of her was still thinking about how disappointed she was that she didn’t have her soulmate to hang out with like the rest of her friends.

* * *

 

            Andi was hanging out in the kitchen, drinking pop and munching on popcorn twists, talking to Gus about frisbee when suddenly she was bumped from behind.

            “Oops, sorry. I can’t really see where I’m going with all this stuff,” a voice said from behind a box full of crafting supplies.

            “It’s okay, I didn’t even spill anything,” Andi replied slowly. That voice was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard, but she couldn’t see the person who it belonged to. Andi felt warm and tingly all of a sudden.

            “Oh, well, that’s good then! I’m just going to go put these in the living room, TJ was saying that the supplies were looking a little low for the photobooth,” she said before continuing her walk through the kitchen to the living room. Andi only caught a glimpse of her as she walked away, but she had beautiful long blonde hair. Andi shook her head and went back to her conversation with Gus.

* * *

 

            Later in the night, Andi was getting tired of being around all of the people, so she headed to the living room to see if she could make something out of the craft supplies there. Maybe it would calm her down. Maybe it would get rid of the weird feeling that she had had ever since that girl bumped into her in the kitchen. Andi sat down on the couch and started sifting through the supplies. Oh yeah, she could definitely make something out of this stuff. She quickly pulled out some materials and started making a bracelet. She wasn’t really sure who it was for, maybe for herself, maybe she could add it to TJ’s birthday present, maybe for Bex, but it didn’t really matter, she’d figure it out later.

            Andi was about halfway done when someone sat down beside her on the couch, “Hey, cool bracelet, can you show me how you’re doing that?” Andi whipped her head to the side to look at the person who just sat down, she had the same voice as the girl who had bumped into her earlier. Andi looked at the girl’s face. She had beautiful long blonde hair, her eyes were a beautiful blue-gray colour, and it looked like everything about her was sparkling in the party lighting. Andi thought that she had never seen anyone that beautiful before.

            Andi closed her mouth and blinked, shaking herself out of whatever trance she had just been in, “Umm, sure! I’m Andi by the way,” Andi said, leaning forward to grab more materials from the box.

            “Oh! You’re Andi! That makes so much sense, TJ’s told me so much about you! I’m Amber, TJ’s sister,” Amber said. Andi suddenly felt the tingling feeling double, traveling all over her body, “Are you okay?” Amber asked, placing her hand on Andi’s knee. Suddenly the feeling was all concentrated where Amber was touching her and then it travelled up to her left shoulder. Amber took her palm off of Andi’s knee and looked at it before looking at Andi, her eyes widening in recognition.

            “No way!” Andi exclaimed smiling.

            “Oh my gosh! Come with me! I’ve got a tank top you can borrow so that we can see if what we think is true _is_ true,” Amber said, grabbing Andi’s hand and pulling her upstairs.

            When they entered Amber’s room, Andi briefly had time to register that it was very pink before Amber shoved a tank top in Andi’s hand and pushed her into the bathroom. Andi quickly changed into the tank top and then looked at her shoulder in the mirror. They were right, clear as day, written on Andi’s shoulder was the name Amber in loopy cursive.

            Andi ran out of the bathroom and knocked on Amber’s door, “Can I come in?”

            Amber threw open the door and pulled her in, turning Andi around as soon as she entered, “Oh my gosh,” Amber said, in awe. Andi jumped slightly when she felt Amber’s finger trace over her name, “I thought that I would never find you,” she said quietly.

            Andi turned around and looked at Amber’s stunned face, “I was starting to think that I would have to wait forever to find you too,” she said, smiling and pulling Amber into a hug, “Can I see yours now?” Andi asked.

            Amber smiled, nodding as she pulled away before turning around and showing her back to Andi. Andi gasped as she took in the colourful swirls that covered Amber’s shoulder, reaching out her hand to trace over the shapes. The first thing she noticed was the Andi Shack, it looked like it was painted on to Amber’s shoulder in watercolour. Then she saw the friendship bracelet that she, Buffy, Cyrus, and Jonah all had with each other. Then she saw the pansexual flag and the number XIII for thirteen. And finally, she saw her name, Andi, written in her messy, angled handwriting. She traced over the name, feeling tears come to her eyes before turning Amber around and pulling her into another tight hug. Amber hugged Andi back almost as fiercely, burying her face in Andi’s neck and bringing her hand up to pet Andi’s hair.

            “We found each other,” Amber said quietly.

            “And we’ll never be lost again,” Andi said, Amber nodded in agreeance before pulling Andi closer to her.

            “We should probably head back down to the party,” Amber said after a while, pulling back slightly from the hug to look at Andi.

            Andi smiled at her, “I guess…” she sighed out jokingly, “I can’t wait to tell everyone!”

            “Me neither! Okay, let’s go flaunt our happiness!” Amber said, grabbing Andi’s hand and pulling Andi out of her room and down the stairs.

            “Oh, Amber, there you are, I’ve been looking for you,” TJ said, walking towards them, arm still around Cyrus, “Wait, why are you and Andi holding hands?” he asked, looking down at their hands. Cyrus also looked down at their hands before looking at their faces (where matching grins no doubt resided) before his jaw dropped.

            “No way!” Cyrus exclaimed.

            “Yes way!” Andi replied, smiling wide.

            “What’s going on?” TJ asked, confused.

            “Andi and I are soulmates,” Amber said, smiling and holding up their hands.

            A grin broke out on TJ’s face and he ran forward, engulfing his older sister in a hug, “I’m so happy for you! Oh my gosh, this is going to be so great!” he said excitedly.

            “What’s going to be so great?” Buffy asked entering from the back door, Jonah trailing behind her.

            “I found my soulmate!” Andi said excitedly, holding up Amber’s hand.

            “Oh my gosh!” Buffy yelled, running forward to hug Andi, “You finally found her! TJ’s right this is going to be great,”

            Jonah walked towards the group and smiled at them, “I’m so happy for you Andi!”

            Andi looked at her friends around her, and then looked at Amber, “I’m happy for me too,” she said contentedly. “Now, is it cake time yet?”

            TJ perked up, “Oh right! That’s why I was looking for you, it’s cake and present time, let’s go!” he said, grabbing Cyrus’ hand and pulling Cyrus with him as he ran to the backyard, the rest of the group following closely behind. Amber and Andi followed last, still holding hands. Andi couldn’t help but think that, if it was up to her, she and Amber would never _not_ hold hands ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's... the end! Thank you so much to everyone who reads this, feel free to comment/kudos if you want!
> 
> For Theo, I hope you enjoyed your gift!
> 
> Have a great day everyone!


End file.
